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Tuesday, September 27, 2011

From complex and intricate fancy work to the very practical garments for sailors, many types of knitting are included in a new unique collection of Victorian knitting manuals from the Knitting Reference Library at Winchester School of Art.
The books were donated by scholar and former bishop Richard Rutt, often referred to as the ‘knitting bishop’ and widely known for his classic book ‘A history of hand knitting’ published by Batsford in 1987. A particular distinction and strength of Richard Rutt’s collection is the range and number of nineteenth century knitting books first published in the 1830s. These Victorian knitting manuals may be considered as the precursors to the contemporary knitting pattern and the ‘how-to-knit’ books that are still being published over 180 years later.
This collection has now been digitised and each book has been copied from cover to cover.